Privacy Policy

This is our updated privacy policy, effective May 25, 2018.

We at Nursing Clio are committed to respecting your privacy. This privacy policy applies to all websites owned and controlled by Nursing Clio. This privacy policy may be supplemented by additional privacy statements, terms, or notices provided to you. Nursing Clio is the primary controller of your personal information provided to, or collected by or for, the Nursing Clio website(s). Throughout this policy we occasionally refer to our website(s) collectively as “Services.”

[gpullquote class=”aligncenter”]Your privacy is important to us.[/gpullquote]

We aim to collect only the information we need to provide you with a responsive, optimized interaction with our website, and to keep that information only as long as we need it.

We try to be transparent about what information we collect and why, and we work hard to keep your information private.

Below is our Privacy Policy, which incorporates and clarifies these goals.

What Data Nursing Clio Collects

We only collect information about you if we have reason to — for example, to make our Services better by responding to how users are using our site, or to communicate with you or provide services such as commenting and subscriptions.

We collect information about you in two ways:

  1. From your input through our web forms such as comment fields and contact forms.
  2. Through automated technologies.

Data you provide us

The types of personal information we collect directly from you depends on how you interact with us and what site services you use. It may include:

  • Contact details such as your name, email address, website URL, and social media handle(s), primarily used for subscriptions or communications you initiate. To initiate and process subscriptions, the following information is used: subscriber’s email address and the ID of the post or comment (depending on the specific subscription being processed). In the event of a new subscription being initiated, we also collect some basic server data, including all of the subscribing user’s HTTP request headers, the IP address from which the subscribing user is viewing the page, and the URI which was given in order to access the page (REQUEST_URI and DOCUMENT_URI). This server data used for the exclusive purpose of monitoring and preventing abuse and spam.
  • Communications with us through our contact forms or via email. This data is stored on the site database and is emailed directly to the site owners.
  • Account login credentials, such as usernames and passwords, and similar security information (only collected if you are a contributor to the Nursing Clio website). Further, in order to check login activity and potentially block fraudulent attempts, the following information is used: attempting user’s IP address, attempting user’s email address/username (i.e. according to the value they were attempting to use during the login process), and all IP-related HTTP headers attached to the attempting user.
  • Payment information such as credit or debit card number (only collected if you choose to support our work with a donation to Nursing Clio). Jetpack (by Automattic) will also track failed login attempts (these include IP address and user agent). We also set a cookie (jpp_math_pass) for 1 day to remember if/when a user has successfully completed a math captcha to prove that they’re a real human.
  • Comments submitted via the comment form. Your name, email address, and site URL (if provided) are collected, along with a timestamp and IP address. We use Jetpack (by Automattic) comments, so additionally a jetpack.wordpress.com IFrame receives the following data: WordPress.com blog ID attached to the site, ID of the post on which the comment is being submitted, commenter’s local user ID (if available), commenter’s local username (if available), commenter’s site URL (if available), MD5 hash of the commenter’s email address (if available), and the comment content. The comment author’s name, email address, and site URL (if provided during the comment submission) are stored in cookies.

Data collected automatically

We obtain personal information about you automatically through server tools and via Automattic and Google Analytics services. Analytics data collected through Automattic and Google Analytics are tokenized in an effort to prevent its being linked back to a specific user. We collect information about how you and your device interact with the Nursing Clio website(s), including:

  • Log information including computer device and connection information, such as IP address, browser type and version, operating system type and version, other software installed on your device, unique device identifier and other technical identifiers, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), error reports, and performance data.
  • Usage data, such as the features you use, your URL click steam data (including date and time stamp and referring and exit pages), and pages you searched for and visited on the Nursing Clio website(s).
  • Location information to determine your general location (country, state, or city) based on your IP address.
  • Demographic information, if available, such as gender or age group.
  • Data collected only by Automattic via Jetpack strictly for their own use (not available to Nursing Clio), includes: Post and page views, video plays (if videos are hosted by WordPress.com), outbound link clicks, referring URLs and search engine terms, and country. When this module is enabled, Jetpack also tracks performance on each page load that includes the Javascript file used for tracking stats. This is exclusively for aggregate performance tracking across Jetpack sites in order to make sure that our plugin and code is not causing performance issues. This includes the tracking of page load times and resource loading duration (image files, Javascript files, CSS files, etc.).

We collect this data through our servers, Automattic, and Google Analytics with cookies and other technologies. You can control cookies through your browser’s settings and other tools. However, if you block certain cookies you may not be able to use all interactive elements of the site such as comment forms.

You can review Automattic’s privacy policy and the Google Analytics data privacy information to learn more about those services.

How Nursing Clio Uses Your Data

We use the information about you (described in the What Data Nursing Clio Collects section of this page) for the following purposes:

  • To provide our Services, such as allowing you to submit a comment on a post or to subscribe to receive email updates about new posts.
  • To develop and improve our Services by adding new features and by analyzing usage trends to better understand our readers.
  • To measure the effectiveness of our content by gauging the reach and audiences of our writers’ hard work.
  • To monitor potential security and performance issues such as suspicious site access and potential denial of service attacks and to prevent spam.
  • To communicate with you, by email for example, about changes to Nursing Clio Services or content.

Basis for collecting and using information

Our use of your information is based on the grounds that:

  1. The use is necessary in order to fulfill our commitments to you to enable access to our website on your device; or
  2. We have a legitimate interest in using your information — for example, to provide and update our Services, to improve our Services so that we can offer you a better user experience, to safeguard our Services, to communicate with you, to measure, gauge, and improve the effectiveness of our content, and better understand user retention and attrition, to monitor and prevent any problems with our Services, and to personalize your experience.

Cookie Policy

Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other device when websites are loaded into a browser. They are widely used to “remember” you and your preferences, either for a single visit (through a “session cookie”) or for multiple repeat visits (using a “persistent cookie”). They ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors and perform essential functions such as allowing users to register and remain logged in. Cookies may be set by the site that you are visiting (known as “first party cookies”), or by third parties, such as those who serve content or provide advertising or analytics services on the website (“third party cookies”).

Both websites and HTML emails may also contain other tracking technologies such as “web beacons” or “pixels.” These are typically small transparent images that provide us with statistics, for similar purposes as cookies. They are often used in conjunction with cookies, though they are not stored on your computer in the same way. As a result, if you disable cookies, web beacons may still load, but their functionality will be restricted.

How we use cookies

We use cookies for a number of different purposes. Some cookies are necessary for technical reasons; some enable a personalized experience for both visitors and registered users; and some allow the display of advertising from selected third party networks such as Automattic’s Jetpack service and Google Analytics. Some of these cookies may be set when a page is loaded, or when a visitor takes a particular action (clicking the “like” or “follow” button on a post, for example).

Many of our cookies are only set if you are a registered Nursing Clio user.

We use different types of cookies, including:

  • Strictly Necessary: These cookies are essential for our Service to perform basic functions. These include those required to allow registered users to authenticate and perform account related functions.
  • Functionality: These cookies are used to store preferences set by users such as account name, language, and location.
  • Security: We use these cookies to help identify and prevent potential security risks.
  • Analytics and Performance: Performance cookies collect information on how users interact with our Service, including what pages are visited most, as well as other analytical data. We use these details to improve how our websites function and to understand how users interact with them.
  • Third Party & Embedded Content: Our Service makes use of different third party applications and services to enhance the experience of website visitors. These include social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (through the use of sharing buttons), and or embedded content from other services like Youtube, Vimeo, and Giphy. As a result, cookies may be set by these third parties and used by them to track your online activity. We have no direct control over the information that is collected by these cookies.

Example cookies

Below are examples of cookies set by Nursing Clio and affiliated services such as Automattic (WordPress and Jetpack) and Google Analytics, with explanations of their purpose.

Cookie Source Purpose
_ga / _gid .nursingclio.org Analytics & Performance. Set by Google Analytics. Used to distinguish users.
_gat .nursingclio.org Analytics & Performance. Set by Google Analytics. Used to throttle analytics request rate.
wordpress_test_cookie nursingclio.org Strictly necessary. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Checks if cookies are enabled to provide appropriate user experience.
twostep_auth nursingclio.org Strictly necessary. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Set when the user is logged in using two factor authentication.
_ga / gat / gid .wordpress.com Analytics & Performance. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Google Analytics. Gathers information that helps us understand how visitors interact with our websites, which allow us to create a better experience for our visitors.
wordpress_logged_in* .wordpress.com Functionality. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Checks whether or not the current visitor is a logged in WordPress.com user.
wp-settings-*{user_id} .wordpress.com Functionality. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Persists a user’s wp-admin configuration.
wordpress_sec* .wordpress.com Security. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Monitors and manages encryption.
tk_ai .wordpress.com Analytics & Performance. Set by WordPress (Automattic). Gathers information for our own, first party analytics tool about how our services are used. A collection of internal metrics for user activity, used to improve user experience.
NID / DSID / IDE gstatic.com / doubleclick.net Third Party. Set by Google for use in their advertising products. Nursing Clio does not use advertising, but some Third Party services such as Google Plus or YouTube may set these cookies. See Google’s cookie types for more information.

Third-Party Cookies

We do not operate ads on our site, but we do use some third-party services that might add cookies for their own advertising or tracking. We do not have control over these cookies. Here is a list of our third party services that may set cookies:

Service Cookie Info
Google (YouTube, DoubleClick) https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
Jetpack https://jetpack.com/support/cookies/

Data Sharing

We do not sell our users’ private personal information. Ever. We also do not use any advertising. Our site is a purely volunteer effort paid for out of our own pockets and those of our fabulous supporters.

We share information about you in circumstances strictly limited to the following:

  • Nursing Clio staff: We may disclose information about you to our staff members if they need the information in order to provide our Services such as communicating with contributors or users.
  • Third-party vendors: We may share information about you with third party vendors who need to know information about you in order to provide their services to us. This group includes vendors that help us provide our Services to you (like payment providers that process your credit and debit card information, email delivery services that help us stay in touch with you, and email support services that help us communicate with you), as well as those that assist us with our marketing efforts (e.g. by providing tools for identifying a specific marketing target group or improving our marketing campaigns), those that help us understand and enhance our Services (like analytics providers). These vendors (primarily Automattic and Google Analytics) follow the same privacy commitments as Nursing Clio.
  • Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale, or acquisition of all or a portion of Nursing Clio by another company, or in the unlikely event that we go out of business, user information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information may continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy.
  • With Your Consent: We may share and disclose information with your consent or at your direction. For example, we may share your information with third parties with which you authorize us to do so, such as the social media services that you connect to through our website using sharing buttons.
  • Published Support Requests: If you send us a request (for example, via a support email or one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish that request in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users.

Information shared publicly

Any information that you choose to make public via our Services is, as you might expect, public.

This means that information like your public profile, comments, posts, and other content you make public on Nursing Clio are all available to others. They are, in fact, the lifeblood of the Nursing Clio community! ♥

For example, a photo that you upload to your public profile, or a default image if you haven’t uploaded one, is your Globally Recognized Avatar, (“Gravatar,” managed by Automattic). Your Gravatar, along with other public profile information, will display with the comments and “Likes” that you make.

Public information may also be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.

Please keep all of this in mind when deciding what you would like to share.

Data Retention

In general, we retain information about you for only as long as we need it.

Data you provide us: Is retained until you request that we delete it in order to retain your comments and associated authorship on the site and allow us to communicate with you.

Data collected through Google Analytics: Is retained for 26 months. At the end of 26 months, any data collected about your tokenized usage of the site is deleted automatically. The 26-month retention period will reset with each new interaction with the site.

Data collected through Automattic: Automattic keeps the web server logs that record information about visitors (such as the visitor’s IP address, browser type, and referrer), for 28 days. We retain the logs for this period of time in order to, among other things, analyze traffic to Automattic’s websites and investigate issues if something goes wrong on one of our websites. Note: this data is only provided to Automattic and not to Nursing Clio.

If you are located in certain countries, including those that fall under the scope of the European General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), data protection laws give you rights with respect to your personal data, subject to any exemptions provided by the law, including the rights to:

  • Request access to your personal data;
  • Request correction or deletion of your personal data;
  • Object to our use and processing of your personal data;
  • Request that we limit our use and processing of your personal data; and
  • Request portability of your personal data.

EU individuals also have the right to make a complaint to a government supervisory authority.

If you are located in California (or anywhere, for that matter) here are your California Privacy Rights: We do not disclose your personal information to third parties for the purpose of directly marketing their goods or services to you unless you first agree to such disclosure.

How to Reach Us

If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, or you would like to contact us about any of the rights mentioned in the data retention section above, please contact us.